HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-23-19 Public Comment - D. Loseff - AC Hotel by MarriottFrom:David Loseff
To:Danielle Garber; Agenda
Subject:AC Hotel site plan and COA request with demolition permit
Date:Monday, September 23, 2019 9:56:41 AM
To the appropriate parties reviewing the AC Hotel site plan,
As the majority owner of the Baxter and its various operating businesses, I am submitting this
letter in opposition to the proposed AC Hotel site plan, COA request and demolition permit inits current form given its failure to outline its means of addressing the parking requirements
for this hotel project. Without addressing the parking needs for a new downtown hotelproperty, the AC Hotel project is unviable and thus the site plan, COA and demolition permit
should not be approved.
At a City Commission meeting that I attended many years ago where the Commissionersestablished the demolition permitting process in response to the city's premature issuance of a
demolition permit for an unviable development on the northeast side which resulted in thedemolition of an historic structure (old brewery site?), Commissioner Chris Mehl outlined that
he would never again allow for a demolition permit for a structure when the subsequentlyproposed project wasn't viable. I believe that Commissioner Mehl's comments were sincere
and heartfelt. You are now being presented with a demolition application, site plan and COAapplication for a brand new downtown hotel which openly states that it hasn't provided for its
significant parking needs..........thus making this application unviable. Thus, his applicationshould be rejected.
Per the downtown plan and all sorts of related analyses, it is clear that we have substantial and
growing parking needs in our downtown. I am not opposed to the AC Hotel project in generalbut believe that the developer should be providing for the parking needs created by his project.
As a downtown business and property owner, we need to preserve and have adequate parkingavailable for our tenants, guests and customers much more than we need a fourth or fifth
downtown hotel.
In the case of Mr. Holloran, he has chosen to take other nearby parking lot properties that heowns (Lamme & Willson and now the Medical Arts Building Parking lot) which could have
easily addressed the parking needs for his proposed AC Hotel.......but instead has opted todevelop them (or in the case of Medical Arts building, establishing plans to develop them)
while submitting a proposal for a new hotel which lacks parking. In the same fashion that Ihave had to spend a substantial amount of money to acquire the Baxter's Mendenhall parking
lot to provide parking for my facilities, Mr. Holloran should be providing parking for his hotelproject. If Mr. Holloran committed to using his neighboring parking lot facilities to address the
parking needs for his hotel, I would likely support his plans to build a downtown hotel. Butgiven his failure to provide adequate parking for his project and simply intensifying the public
parking problems on neighboring downtown businesses and properties is not acceptable andnot in the long term interests of having a viable balanced downtown core.
Sincerely,
David Loseff